What form of martial arts uses weapons?

Answer 1

If you mean Martial Arts that train exclusively with weapons, the list is pretty long. For one thing the word "martial" is derived from Latin, the word which was associated with the mythic Roman god "Mars," the Greek equivalent of Ares, the "God of War." Because "martial" literally means "of war," knowing how to aim, hit a target, assemble and dissasemble a firearm, taking care of a firearm, all those things qualify as a martial art. What the U.S. military trains in, basic training, is a form of martial art that uses weapons, modern weapons. Knowing how to pilot an F-22 raptor is a martial art, because the jet fighter is a weapon. If there is a systematic approach towards causing ANY degree of harm to a human being, or learning the method of thinking for causing physical or psychological harm, then its a martial art, this definition applies, regardless of motive.

Anything that involves training with a weapon, a real weapon, can be considered a martial art. By that definition there is the modern day military the world over, the most commonly used weapon being the AK-47, in the Anglosphere, due to the United State's influence, the M-16. France uses the FAMAS, a very small low caliber weapon but nevertheless, a deadly accurate, easy to handle one. So, in other words modern day combat training, ranging from urban door to door, to jungle, can all be considered martial arts. What makes modern martial arts different from what we see in the movies, is that they are separated from meditative traditions. There is no such thing as a "Navy SEAL master" that is a sort of "super" Navy SEAL because most of them do not compliment their trainign with meditation. S

The list is too large to name here, and I've already covered modern martial arts, now for some ancient ones.

1) There are the various weapons forms of India, ranging from the "whip sword," a sword blade designed to be wielded as a whip, which can be worn as a belt, there is the Chakram made famous by the series "Xena; Warrior Princess," various versions of the scimitar, and the short and long staff.

2) In China you have various species of spear, the straight sword, and many variations of the machete. Additionally you also have the short and long staff, in addition to the three sectional staff. The three sectional staff is basically THREE long sticks connected by two chains. Additionally, you also have the chain whip, and the bullet balls, which you swallow (yes, swallow), but not all the way to your stomach, and using your lungs as a sort of pneumatic "gun," you "fire" the bullet ball from your throat. The Japanese have an even more dangerous variation of that martial art; namely, the needle knives. They train themselves, or they used to anyway, to swallow needles, which they would then fire at an opponent, the way Chinese martial artists (some) fired bullet balls. No doubt you have seen numerous depictions of needle knives in anime; if you find reliable martial arts books, it will be confirmed, those weapons were real. As are the bullet balls.

3) Japan has the deer skin hide, the tanto, the Katana, the naginata and nodachi, in addition to Kamas, nunchaku, Tonfa, and the incredibly dangerous sickle chain. Additionally there is the short and long staff.

4) Europe, has fencing, which is well known, both combat and sport, in addition to broad sword fencing. Regarding the use of the spear, midieval spear combat, survives in Switzerland. The Swiss, who form the guard of the Vatican, that is all the Swiss guard of the Vatican, are all trained, for tradition's sake, in midieval spear fighting, a fighting style using the spear, indigenous to Europe, its approach is totally different from any of the spear fighting methods used in east Asia or India.

Of the above 4 mentioned weapons forms, 2 and 3 do not go alone; in East Asia, you trained in hand to hand, and then your training is "completed" with weapons training. Indian and European weapons training are stand alone though, as martial arts. Of the east Asian styles, only Kenjutsu and Jo Jutsu, namely, the arts of the Katana and short staff, are stand alone martial arts. All other martial arts in East Asia, combine hand to hand with weapons training. Actually even the modern military does; what most militaries train in, is basic kick boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Increasingly though Krav Maga is being used throughout the western world, mostly in Europe though.

Very few "stand alone" weapons based martial arts exist today, nearly all of them are combined with some method of hand to hand or other.
Almost all forms of Martial Arts utilize some form of weaponry training. Self defense arts use weaponry less and tend to focus more on defense from weapons and removal of weapons. Kung-Fu, Ninjitsu, and Wushu are all three great weapon using arts. The traditional sword arts like kenjutsu and kendo are weapon heavy.